Opportunities and impediments for use of local data in the management of salmon fisheries

Data availability challenges the management of small-scale fisheries in large river basins. One way to circumvent the challenges of data collection is to rely on local stakeholders who are well-positioned to collect data that can inform management through community-based monitoring (CBM). Although s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Ecology and society 2021-06, Vol.26 (2), p.1, Article art26
Main Authors: Inman, Sarah C., Esquible, Janessa, Jones, Michael L., Bechtol, William R., Connors, Brendan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
alaskan salmon
Capacity development
Citizen participation
Community involvement
community-based monitoring
coproduction of scientific knowledge
Data collection
Data quality
Decision making
Fisheries
Fisheries research
Management
natural resource management
Public participation
River basins
Rivers
Salmon
Small-scale fisheries
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Summary:Data availability challenges the management of small-scale fisheries in large river basins. One way to circumvent the challenges of data collection is to rely on local stakeholders who are well-positioned to collect data that can inform management through community-based monitoring (CBM). Although science and management has increasingly considered opportunities for community involvement in scientific research, the efficacy of these programs are rarely assessed. We describe a current CBM initiative in the Kuskokwim River Basin of western Alaska. We then explore how existing approaches for incorporating local involvement in fisheries research and management measure against claims made by CBM programs to understand pathways for data utility for decision makers and approaches to capacity building and meaningful engagement of local citizens. We identify major gaps in the CBM literature and explore one of these gaps through an interview-based study of public participation in the Kuskokwim. We find that the CBM program intent to collect high quality data was complemented by increasing trust in data stewards. Ultimately, through our interview findings we illustrate how definitions of local engagement differ, how CBM data is used by decision makers, and how trust in data is dependent on trust in data stewards and the infrastructure that supports that stewardship.
ISSN:1708-3087
1708-3087
DOI:10.5751/ES-12117-260226